Could the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail connect to Kalamazoo College and Western Michigan University?

Gazette / Jonathon GruenkeThree Western Michigan University engineering students have drafted plans to extend the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail from North Westnedge Avenue south through downtown Kalamazoo. The extension, which would pass through the intersection of Michigan Avenue and West Main Street, would provide access to the campuses of Kalamazoo College and Western Michigan University.

Eaton, 22, and fellow Western Michigan University student Nathan Raburn, 23, showed their preliminary construction documents on Thursday to a group of 20 trail enthusiasts, student leaders and public officials at WMU’s Parkview Campus.

Their plan shows how to connect the river valley trail to WMU and Kalamazoo College’s campuses.

The proposed stretch of trail, just under one mile, would start at Academy Street and proceed up Michikal Street until it meets North Westnedge Avenue, where the trail already exists.

The students’ work shows where sidewalks could be widen and how much time walkers and bike riders would have to cross intersections in the downtown.

They estimated the trail segment’s construction would cost between $162,000 and $165,000.

Drafting the documents was part of their school project.

But local officials took their work seriously.

“It’s obviously not entirely complete. There’ll be some changes here and there,” said Fred Nagler, an assistant city engineer for Kalamazoo. “(But overall), they did an excellent job.”

Kalamazoo County Parks Director David Rachowicz said the next step would be to meet with WMU and K-College officials to see if they would be willing to help pay for the construction and when the project could begin.

“There’s definite interest,” Rachowicz said. “That’s one of the reasons why these students picked up the project.”

He said the students’ work could potentially save up to $15,000 on costs because the draft construction documents are created.

It will be 35 miles long once it is finished, connecting to the Battle Creek Linear Trail and the Portage Bicentennial Park Trail. It already connects to the Kal-Haven Trail, which goes to South Haven.

At this time, the master plan does not include expanding the trail to WMU and K-College.Eaton, a civil engineering senior from Allendale, said their proposal would give students better access to the downtown and to the rest of the trail.

He referenced the proposal to build a new event center in downtown Kalamazoo, which supporters have said they will again present to the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners in early 2011.

“If there was a new arena, this would be a way for students to walk there,” said Eaton, who spent several months working on the senior design project with Raburn and WMU student Matt Maluchnik.